76 Notices of Motmi Washingtoti and the vidnity. 



directly upon them. Had they remained in the house they would 

 have been safe, and in emerging, they ran to destruction ; for at 

 the distance of only a few yards from their dwelling, the fatal 

 torrent overtook them and swept them away.* The view here 

 presented of the mountain sides, on the right and left, is terrific 

 in the extreme. Enormous ledges of rock hang over them, frown- 

 ing upon the traveller below. Beautiful cascades likewise may 

 be seen, tumbling down over these cragged steeps, and whirling 

 in crystal eddies in the deep fountains which they have worn in 

 the rocks. I spent some time in searching for quartz crystals, 

 which are frequently found among the hills. They are of the 

 brown or smoky variety, sometimes very large and beautiful, and 

 are kept for sale at the public houses. After travelling some dis- 

 tance amidst such scenery as this, we at length emerged from the 

 region of mountains and plunged again into a wide forest, which 

 intervenes between the ' White hills' and the city of Portland. 



Remarks hy the Editor. 



There are many facts connected with the physical features of 

 these mountains that are worthy of description. Among them 

 no one is more remarkable, than the trap dykes which frequently 

 intersect the granite mountains, cutting them from top to base, 

 and downward, into profound and unfathomable depths; their 

 dark massy walls form a striking contrast with the white, gray, or 

 red granite, or granitic schists, through which they have forced 

 their way. But we leave the description of them to Prof. Hub- 

 bard, of Dartmouth College, whose account will be found in this 

 number of our work. 



Being for the second time, among the White mountains in the 

 last week of August, of the late season of 1837, 1 ascended Mount 

 Washington on the first of September, in company with my son 

 and two gentlemen of Boston. 



The day was mild, and in the main the atmosphere was clear, 

 with occasional flying clouds, flitting over the sun, which fre- 

 quently burst out with autumnal splendor, and illumined all the 

 magnificent mountain groups, and valleys, and defiles, that cover 

 this truly alpine region. The traveller who undertakes the as- 

 cent of Mount Washington, must lay his account to severe fatigue. 



* Some additional particulars of the catastrophe of the Willey family, alluded to 

 by Mr. Nichols, are mentioned by me, in Vol. XV. p. 220, of this Journal. I vis- 

 ited this place in 1828, with some friends, two years after the event. — Ed. 



